Stages of AI adoption

Which one are you at?

Author

Nejc Susec
February 13, 2024

Together with

Hello My Friend

I’ve been active in the creative AI space since June 2022. It’s been a while. And there is a cycle that keeps coming up.

It starts with befuddlement. I think that is the best word to describe it - confusion resulting from failure to understand.

I also like to call it the “What the..“ stage. The first time you see an image appear in front of your eyes after writing a text prompt. You’re left with the visible “What the…” look on your face.

Once we wrap our minds around this new reality, Let’s freaking gooo! Explore all the ideas, diving deeper, getting sucked straight into a Black hole. Anything you can imagine, visualized. Each result feeding our imagination (and dopamine) and sucking us deeper. Until we finally

SNAP out of it. Resurface, come back to reality. With new souvenirs! Probably hundreds, if not thousands of them. Coming back from our explorative adventure, the possibilities of the new reality start seeping in.

We normalize it. We start to understand what AI can do and what are its limitations. We’ll probably arrive at the point of saying: “Alright, it’s not that cool. It can’t do this, it can’t do that.”

Crazy how only a few weeks before this our mind is going crazy at the transformative and disruptive power of AI. 🙃

At this point, there is an additional step that not everyone takes. Some people say: “Alright, this can’t generate the scenes I want, I’m out.” Until the next development comes out and they go back into the cycle.

Others ask themselves: “What can it do for me right now?”

This is where the real adoption happens - Today. Figuring out how AI can help and support you puts us ahead. By miles. AI develops incredibly fast, one day equals two or three days of progress. The earlier we adopt the technology, the further ahead we are.

Each new development starts this cycle for me:

  • What the… - Mind trying to wrap itself around how it works.

  • Black hole - Let’s explore all the ideas.

  • Resurface - Come back safely with new perspectives.

  • Normalize - Alright, AI is not that cool. It can’t do all of these things.

  • Adoption - What can it do for me today?

AI is not perfect. And it is not designed to solve ALL our problems. It is a new technology, giving us an opportunity to figure out how best to use it.

Ideation, storyboarding, concept art, writing drafts, organization, strategy, ad materials, design assets, character design…. The list goes on and on - All of it is available today.

Have you started moving yet?

It’s always better to move together with others. Connect, collaborate and share insights. I’m building a closed group for those who want to stay ahead of the adoption curve.

I’ve invited professionals from various industries - Motion designers, copywriters, creative directors, filmmakers, designers - to join the alpha group. If you’re interested in joining please let me know here.

Looking forward to nurturing closer connections with you. 🤗

Looking to stay on top of the latest tools and AI developments? You might like The Rundown - a newsletter I read almost daily.

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